Complexity in College Admissions: Facts and Myths

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Complexity in College Admissions Facts and Myths

• March 28, 2010
• 100PM EST
• Presenters
• Arlene Cash
• Brad Quin
• Bruce Walker

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Advocacy Policy Center

• Mission
• To increase the number of students who earn a
  college degree and who are prepared to succeed in
  the 21st century.
• Approach

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Areas of Focus

• College Preparation Access
• Arts at the Core
• The CollegeKeys Compact
• School Counselor Advocacy
• Teacher Advocacy
• Minority Male Achievement
• Undocumented Students and the DREAM Act
• The National Commission on Writing

• College Admission Completion
• College Completion Agenda
• Admissions in the 21st Century
• Access Diversity Collaborative
• Community College Transfer Retention

• College Affordability Financial Aid
• Cracking the Student Aid Code
• Rethinking Student Aid
• Trends in Higher Education
• Education Pays
• Simplifying State Aid Processes

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Study Overview

• Objective
• Explore the topic of complexity in the admission
  process through research based on student and
  parent perceptions
• Measure student and parent perceptions of
  complexity
• Differentiate responses by income, race and
  ethnicity, first generation status and geography
• Identify which subgroups find the process (or
  aspects of it) complex and why
• Identify possible responses to key findings
• Survey Overview
• 600 students planning to enroll in a 4-year
  college
• 300 parents of students planning to enroll in a
  4-year college

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A Closer Look Fact or Urban Myth?

• Examined 7 Areas from the Student Parent View
• Getting Information about College
• Application Process General
• Application Process Schools to which students
  applied
• Application Process Features of the application
  process
• Application Process By school type size
• Sources of Help During the College Application
  Process
• Overall Perceptions of the College Application
  Process
• Parents Experiences with the College Application
  Process
• Demographics

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Getting Information about Colleges
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Application Process General
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Respondents Suggestions for Making the Process
Less Confusing/Complex

• Top Four Suggestions Students

• Top Four Suggestions
• Parents

• Better instructions/Step-by-step guides/Clear
  checklist 15
• Improve college websites/Make websites more user-
  friendly/ Better information on websites 14
• Use a common application/Have everything in one
  place or on one website 10
• Better communication between colleges and
  students, parents, high school staff/Better or
  more timely notification when items are missing
  9

• Better communication between colleges and
  students, parents, high school staff/Better or
  more timely notification when items are missing
  11
• Improve college websites/Make websites more user-
  friendly/ Better information on websites 10
• Better instructions/Step-by-step guides/Clear
  checklist 9
• Use a common application/Have everything in one
  place or on one website 7

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Application Process Schools to Which Students
Applied
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Application ProcessFeatures of the Application
Process
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How Confusing Were Specific Features of the
Admissions Process? Top Three

• From a List of Standard Processes Scale 1 Low,
  10 High

• From a List of special processes Scale 1 Low,
  10 High

• Knowing how admission decisions are made
• Students 3.32
• Parents 3.64
• Being able to find information they needed on a
  colleges website
• Students 2.68
• Parents 2.24
• Completing the application form
• Students 2.62
• Parents 2.47

• Write an essay
• Students 3.50
• Parents 3.14
• Apply for admission to a specific college within
  the school
• Students 2.64
• Parents 2.33
• Submit samples of high school coursework
• Students 2.49
• Parents 2.26

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Application ProcessBy School Type and Size
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Does Complexity Vary by School Type or Size?

• Students
• Rating 1 Low, 10 High

• Parents
• Rating 1 Low, 10 High

• Public 2.55
• Private 2.51
• Small 2.54
• lt 4,000
• Medium 2.67
• 4,000 to 9,999
• Large 2.55
• gt10,000

• Public 2.26
• Private 2.31
• Small 2.02
• lt 4,000
• Medium 2.52
• 4,000 to 9,999
• Large 2.32
• gt10,000

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Does Complexity of Specific Tasks Vary by School
Type Top 5

• Public
• Rating 1 Low, 10 High

• Private
• Rating 1 Low , 10 High

• Write an essay 3.37
• Apply for admission to a specific college within
  the school 2.51
• Submit samples of high school coursework 2.48
• Have an interview with admissions staff 2.43
• Get letters of recommendation2.07

• Write an essay 3.21
• Submit samples of high school coursework 2.44
• Have an interview with admissions staff 2.41
• Get letters of recommendation 2.31
• Apply for admission to a specific college within
  the school 2.12

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Does Confusion about Features of the Process Vary
with School Size Top 3

• Knowing how admission decisions are made
• Small 3.47
• Medium 2.63
• Large 2.57
• Knowing if all required materials were submitted
• Small 3.16
• Medium 2.43
• Large 2.54
• Being able to find information they needed on a
  colleges website
• Small 3.21
• Medium 2.59
• Large 2.62

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Sources of Help During the College Application
Process
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Overall Perceptions of the College Application
Process
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Stressors in the Process Top 3

• Those factors that were not stressful (rated 1-5)

• Those factors that were stressful (rated 6-10)

• Was not complicated/All information needed in one
  place/Process was self-explanatory 32
• Waiting for the answer was the stressful part/Not
  knowing if they would be accepted 15
• Different applications have different
  requirements/Difficult to gather all the required
  items 14

• Different applications have different
  requirements/Difficult to gather all the required
  items 34
• Worried about deadlines/Difficult to meet
  deadlines 26
• Very time consuming/Hard to balance with work,
  school, and extracurricular activities 18

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Demographics
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Student Demographics
Type of high school student attends Students (N600) Parents (N300)
Public school 88 86
Private school 11 12
Home school 1 2
Students anticipated major field Students (N600) Parents (N300)
Life sciences 19 14
Physical sciences 17 17
Social sciences 17 11
Business 16 14
Medical sciences 11 13
Liberal arts 10 9
Education 8 10
Communications 4 6
Undecided 9 6
High school GPA Students (N600) Parents (N300)
2.99 or less 11 6
3.00 to 3.24 13 13
3.25 to 3.49 12 10
3.50 to 3.74 19 21
3.75 to 3.99 19 19
4.00 or greater 18 14
Dont know 8 17
Standardized tests taken Students (N600) Parents (N300)
taking SAT 98 97
taking ACT 48 61
Combined SAT score Students (N457) Parents (N138)
Mean SAT score (std. deviation) 1574 (306.50) 1529 (351.09)
Median 1570 1540
Combined ACT score Students (N237) Parents (N76)
Mean ACT score (std. deviation) 24.37 (5.23) 25.08 (5.93)
Median 24.00 25.00
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General Demographics
Parents Household Income Students (N600) Parents (N300)
Less than 20,000 10 6
20,000 but less than 40,000 18 18
40,000 but less than 75,000 23 26
75,000 but less than 150,000 21 27
150,000 or more 8 12
Dont know 18 1
Refused 2 10
Gender of Respondent Students (N600) Parents (N300)
Male 42 32
Female 58 68
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Conclusions and Recommendations
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Getting Information About College

• Findings
• Parents and students offered college application
  process classes or seminars found them helpful
• Recommendation
• Work with high schools to develop college
  information programs
• Establish guidelines and evaluation to ensure
  programs are effective

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Application Process General

• Findings
• College choice is only moderately complicated
  multiple college choices increase complexity
• College choice is generally made by student, or
  jointly between student and parent
• First-generation students report making decision
  solely
• Recommendation
• Develop materials targeted to first-generation
  students
• Develop suggestions to help all students make
  wise decisions on college type, needs and goals

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Schools which Students Applied

• Findings
• Students apply to 4 colleges/universities on
  average
• Students most frequently apply to public schools
  and in-state schools
• First-generation and lower-income students are
  less like to apply to private/out-of-state
  schools
• Recommendation
• Investigate the barriers preventing
  first-generation and lower income students from
  applying to private/out-of-state schools

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Features of the Application Process

• Findings
• Applying to college was a fairly simple and clear
  process for students
• More difficult when applying to numerous schools
• Most students complete applications online
• Knowing how admission decisions are made is most
  unclear
• Writing essays and submitting recommendation
  letters were fairly simple
• No major barriers identified for students from
  low- income families, first-generation or
  geographical location

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Features of the Application Process

• Recommendation
• Encourage colleges to be more transparent
  regarding the admission decision-making process

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By School Type Size

• Finding
• Slight differences emerged based on type of size
  but not significant to provoke change
• Recommendation
• Develop suggestions to help all students make
  wise decisions on college type, needs and goals

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Sources of Help

• Findings
• Students rely on parents and high school
  counselors
• First-generation and lower income students are
  less likely to receive help from parents
• More likely to receive help from school
  counselors, teachers, friends, and older siblings
• Recommendation
• Encourage colleges to have informative,
  up-to-date, and easy to navigate websites
• Assist schools with the development of additional
  basic information about the college application
  process

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Overall Perceptions

• Findings
• Moderately stressful to apply to college
• Stress is based on outcomes not process
• Secondary stress
• Different applications have different
  requirements
• Balance between application process and high
  school life
• Parents and students are confident about college
  choices
• Overall, respondents felt the application process
  is easy and self-explanatory

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Part II Complexity Report

• Objective
• To understand how much , when and why students
  particularly those form disadvantaged backgrounds
  fall out of the process or otherwise aim too
  low in pursing college, given their academic
  qualifications
• If complexity in the application process is not a
  significant factor (see Phase I research
  findings), what other factors are impacting
  college attendance outcomes
• Target Populations
• Low-Income, low-socioeconomic status,
  first-generation
• Release Date
• Fall 2011

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Upcoming Webinars
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• April 28, 100 200 p.m. EDT
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• May 18, 100 200 p.m. EDT

To download Complexity in College Admissions
Fact or Urban Myth and register for the upcoming
webinars, visit http//advocacy.collegeboard.org.